Abstract
Substantial educational inequalities have been documented in Germany for decades. In this article, we examine whether educational inequalities among children have increased or remained the same since the school closures of spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our perspective is longitudinal: We compare the amount of time children in secondary schools spent on school-related activities at home before the pandemic, during school closures, and immediately after returning to in-person learning. We operationalize family socio-economic status using the highest parental educational attainment. Based on the theoretical assumption that the pandemic affected everyone equally, we formulate a hypothesis of equalization during the first period of school closures. For the period thereafter, however, we assume that parents with a low level of education had more difficulties bearing the additional burden of supervising and supporting their children’s learning activities. Thus, for that period, we postulate an increase in educational inequality. To study our hypotheses, we use data from the 2019 wave of the SOEP and the SOEP-CoV study, both of which are probability samples. The SOEP-CoV study provides a unique database, as it was conducted during the lockdown of spring 2020 and in the following month. For statistical analysis, we use probit regressions at three measurement points (in 2019, in 2020 during the school closures, and in the month after closures). The comparison of these three time points makes our analysis and findings unique in the research on education during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular with regard to Germany-wide comparisons. Our results confirm the hypothesis of equalization during the first school closures and the hypothesis of an increase in educational in the subsequent period. Our findings have direct policy implications regarding the need to further expand support systems for children.
Highlights
Parents, children, and schools were largely unprepared when the COVID-19 pandemic reached Germany in 2020, leading to school closures in the spring and again in winter of 2020 and again in spring of 2021 in some parts of Germany
Alongside this emerging body of research, there has been ongoing public discussion about the impact of school closures and distance learning on underprivileged children and children living in precarious circumstances
We found a mixed picture in our study regarding the impact of the spring 2020 school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic on different groups of secondary school children
Summary
Children, and schools were largely unprepared when the COVID-19 pandemic reached Germany in 2020, leading to school closures in the spring and again in winter of 2020 and again in spring of 2021 in some parts of Germany (depending on the regional regulations related to incidence levels). There are only a few studies that have used representative data to analyze the effects of school closures and the shift of all school-related activities into the home and family context. Alongside this emerging body of research, there has been ongoing public discussion about the impact of school closures and distance learning on underprivileged children (whose parents have no education beyond secondary schooling) and children living in precarious circumstances (e.g., whose parents are unemployed). The mechanisms and effects of school closures are likely to be different for children in primary schools and require separate analysis
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